1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a picking element for a poultry picking apparatus having a beaker-shaped support which is to be driven rotatably about the center line thereof and whose cylindrical casing surface and end face are provided with picking fingers.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the prior art picking elements or a poultry picking apparatus have been used.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,585,675, entitled "Poultry Picker", issued on June 22, 1971, to Edward J. Crane, teaches for example a poultry picking machine for picking feathers from poultry, comprising a picking element having a cylindrical casing and a hemispherical end face; only this end face carries exclusively picking fingers disposed at an angle to the axis of rotation. The difficulty with this apparatus is that it is hard to properly secure the picking fingers, which during operation are subjected to strong forces, into the spherical curved end face, while practice has shown that the picking effect accomplished by this type of picking element is not optimum. Another example of the prior art is U.S. Pat. No. 3,797,068, entitled: "Fowl Agitating and Wetting System", issued on Mar. 19, 1974, to Janus J. Dillon, which teaches a picking element which has a truncated casing surface provided with picking fingers mounted thereon and which is used in a picking apparatus wherein the axes of rotation of sets of two picking elements are aligned, the end faces of said picking elements, which do not carry picking fingers, being opposite each other. These sets of picking elements are disposed on either side of the path of travel of the fowl and define a lozenge-shaped passage channel therefor.